Penalties, turnovers doom U.Va. in 42-23 loss to Maryland

CHARLOTTESVILLE — — When the 32 Virginia players honored Saturday on Senior Day look back at their careers one day, this will not be the game they'll want to recall.

The Cavaliers (4-6, 1-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) sent their seniors out in a pre-game ceremony, then self-destructed as Maryland won, 42-23.

With the loss, Virginia — which had led 23-21 entering the fourth quarter — now has surrendered 97 points in the past two games.

Maryland's point total wasn't the only glaring number on the stat sheet. There were also Virginia's 16 penalties for 145 yards. "You can't have that many penalties," coach Mike London said.

"I'm very disappointed in the lack of better effort — particularly in the fourth quarter," London said. "It's frustrating. It's frustrating to have 16 penalties. That's directed on us coaches — what we teach and how we teach it, getting it across to the players about what's acceptable and what's not acceptable."

Maryland won because they continued their pattern of producing big plays. Quarterback Danny O'Brien — who was disappointed in his performance in last week's loss at Miami — completed 17 of 28 passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. The redshirt freshman had completions of 62, 55 and 35 yards as Maryland used short passes to set up longer ones.

Maryland sealed the game with interceptions by Eric Franklin and Adrian Moten as the Cavaliers tried to rally in the fourth quarter. The Terps entered the game tops in the conference in turnover margin at plus-11.

Moten's interception set up Maryland's final touchdown on a 12-yard reception by Torrey Smith (seven catches for 157 yards).

"I took it from him," Moten said of Virginia receiver Kris Burd (five catches for 68 yards). "He was just talking a lot of trash (earlier) about what he had done."

London said his players needed to contest passes better. "When the ball's thrown into the air, the mindset has got to be 'it belongs to me.' Those things have to be addressed as far as people being in position," he said.

The Terps had dropped three straight to Virginia and 14 of 18 dating to 1992. Virginia had also won eight of the past nine meetings in Charlottesville.

The Cavaliers have 10 players from Maryland. The group is led by defensive end Cam Johnson (Greenbelt), who entered the game ranked fifth in the ACC in sacks and tackles for loss. The number of players from the other team's state have helped magnify the rivalry.

Some of Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen's worst moments as Maryland's coach have come against the Cavaliers. Friedgen switched the team hotel from the last meeting in 2008 to try to change their luck.

Virginia did have some memorable plays Saturday. In the first quarter, Virginia took a 10-7 lead on a fake field goal. The holder, Jacob Hodges — a former Cavaliers team manager — flipped the ball forward to fullback Terence Fells-Danzer, who ran in for the score.

In the second quarter, Virginia quarterback Marc Verica (25 of 43 for 265 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions) hit tight end Jeremiah Mathis — who began the season as a defensive end — with a 1-yard touchdown pass to cut Maryland's lead to 21-17.

Running back Perry Jones left the game in the second quarter for the Cavaliers with an injury that London called "a collision issue."

The Cavaliers took the lead, 23-21, on an 11-play drive ending with a 37-yard field goal by Robert Randolph with 1:47 left in the third quarter.

But Maryland regained the lead, 28-23, on D.J. Adams' third touchdown run of the game, this one from 2 yards out on its opening possession of the fourth quarter.

Maryland then upped its advantage. On third and goal from the 2, O'Brien found running Da'Rel Scott in the end zone to make it 35-23 with 8:12 left.

Virginia finishes the season on the road against Boston College and Virginia Tech.

"I think the biggest thing for us is to keep our heads high," said senior defensive tackle John-Kevin Dolce. "I think some of the seniors have to pull along some of the younger guys because they have not been in this position before. We have to make them see that our season has not ended. We still have two games to play, and we are going to play those games very hard."